Arcade Fire’s fourth LP was an artistic triumph that came with oversized buzz thanks to a well-constructed marketing campaign. It was one of our favorite albums of 2013. But not everyone loved Reflektor and now frontman Win Butler has responded to one high-profile pan.

Last fall, we learned how Arcade Fire’s publicist arranged for an early rave for Reflektor in Rolling Stone:

I had people completely outside this business saying to me, “Oh, those reviews have been great! … Oh my god, they’re everywhere.” And it was just one [Rolling Stone] review that all these people were linking back to because that was their only resource.

“Yeah, I read it,” Butler says, frowning. “I don’t want to say it was racist – but it was mildly uneducated.” He was particularly annoyed by the three jokes about the band’s new bongos, pointing out (rightly) that a professional music critic should know they were congas. He also says, not unfairly, that there may be some sour grapes: “The guy who wrote it played in a band that we used to open for. It seems like a bit of a conflict of interest.”

But when I jokingly ask if he wants to confirm or deny that he’s a gigantic dork, Butler rolls his eyes. “Whatever,” he says, his voice dripping sarcasm. “I’m a super-dork because I play with David Bowie. Bruce Springsteen wants to cover my songs because I’m such a dork. I’m not a dork,” he says earnestly. “I’m a fucking rock star.”

(Richards was in the D.C. post-hardcore trio Q And Not U.)

Rolling Stone’s Arcade Fire feature can be found in the 1/16 issue on newsstands now.